


Persistence Pays Off

by SonnyD



Series: Hospital AU [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Hospital, Alternate Universe - Medical, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 19:13:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13596567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonnyD/pseuds/SonnyD
Summary: Danny and Steve had an okay relationship after their first meeting and Danny would like to keep it that way. Steve, on the other hand, had different plans. This is the five times Steve asked Danny out on a date and the one time he said yes.





	Persistence Pays Off

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys. This is the second installment in the Hospital AU series. I hope you all enjoy it.

The first time it happened, Danny was in the break room trying to get something from the vending machine. He took up his snack and turned around only to almost crash into 6’1” of solid surgeon.

“What the hell, Steve?” he exclaimed, placing a hand on his chest. His heart beat had sped up and he was beginning to regret coming into the break room in the first place. Steve, on the other hand, looked nonplussed about scaring Danny and was staring at him with a determined look.

“What?” the blonde asked, getting irritated, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Go out with me.”

“Steve, I don’t have time for your – wait, what?”

Steve licked his lips, standing up straighter as he crossed his arms.

“I said go out with me,” he repeated, as if he were talking to a small child. Danny blinked, wondering if the other man was joking. He didn’t seem to be.

“You’re – you’re kidding me, right?” he asked, just to make sure.

Steve frowned, “Why would I be?”

“Because – because we don’t like each other like that! We’re barely even friends! Wait, am I even explaining this to you?”

As Danny ranted, his hands waved about in random gestures causing Steve to take a step back so as to not get hit.

“Danny-”

“No. This is not happening.”

Before the surgeon could say anything more, Danny quickly ran out of the room. There was no way that had happened to him. Maybe he wasn’t getting enough sleep. Yeah, that was it. He most certainly did not have romantic feelings for Dr. Steve McGarrett.

+++++

The second time was unavoidable. Danny was entering the hospital the next morning when he caught sight of Steve standing at the nurses’ station talking to Kono. He considered turning around and going back home but Danny Williams was not one to run away from his problems. The blond approached the counter, resisting the urge to sigh when Steve smiled at him. Hopefully, that meant that what had happened yesterday would be water under the bridge. He should have known better.

“Morning,” he greeted, stepping behind the counter. Kono grinned at him.

“Morning, Danny,” she chirped, “How was your night?”

“Uneventful,” he replied as he signed in. He took up his clipboard, ignoring the fact that Steve was staring at him. It didn’t last long.

“So, Danny, I was looking for something in my office yesterday and remembered that I have two tickets to a football game on Saturday. Want to go?”

Danny felt his eye twitch, still without looking up from his clipboard. Steve was tempting him. He just knew it. How could he turn down a chance to go to a football game? He could feel Kono staring at him as well, waiting for an answer just as – if not more – eagerly as Steve. Finally, he lifted his head.

“Sorry, but I have plans.”

Kono gaped at him as though he had turned down a prime offer.

“But Danny, you don’t even do anything when you go home,” she protested.

“I’ll find something to do. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

He brushed past his co-workers and made his way down the hall, Steve’s gaze of disbelief following him the whole time. Danny wasn’t playing hard to get. He really wasn’t.

+++++

Steve cornered him on the third time. He had been checking a patient’s vitals when he heard someone clearing their throat. He turned around and saw Steve leaning against the closed door which he hadn’t even heard open.

“What, Steven?” It was just a courtesy at this point. He already knew what Steve wanted.

“The game. You sure you don’t want to go?”

Danny rolled his eyes as he went back to his work. Steve was persistent; he’d give him that.

“Yes, I’m sure. Shouldn’t you be working right now?”

The surgeon ignored the question and took a step closer to Danny.

“How about a baseball game?” he asked.

“It’s not even baseball season.”

“Pizza? You can’t say no to that, Danny.”

“I can and I will.”

“I could take you out for a picnic. Would you like that?”

Danny spun around to face Steve who was now standing too close for comfort. His eyes narrowed as he stared up at the other man.

“How many times am I going to have to tell you no? Huh? Cause I’m wondering if you’re even hearing me. Are you deaf? Is that it? Or am I just not talking loud enough for you?”

There was no real heat to his words and if the slight smirk on Steve’s face was anything to go by, he knew it as well. The surgeon reached out to touch the blond’s arm just as another voice entered the conversation.

“If you don’t wanna go out with him, blondie, I’ll do it.”

The nurse whipped around to see the patient that he had been attending to – and who was asleep at the time, he swore – watching them. He flashed a smirk at them, his head bobbing to a beat only he could hear. Danny could feel his face getting hot as he glared at the man.

“Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping, Sang Min?” the nurse snapped.

“Hey, I can’t sleep with all this drama. I woke up to ask if I could get some popcorn.”

Danny raised an eyebrow, “You shouldn’t be eating anything salty anyway and I didn’t ask you for your opinion. Now, shut up. Please,” he turned to face Steve, “Don’t even think about it, Steven.”

The surgeon raised his hands in surrender as the other man stormed out of the room.

“I could still take you up on that offer,” Sang Min leered.

Steve grimaced, “Uh, I’ll be fine, thanks.”

He rushed out of the room to avoid any further conversation with the creepy man. He needed to think of a new plan. Maybe in private next time.

+++++

It was official. Danny was never telling Kono anything ever again. Technically, he hadn’t said something to her that morning about what had occurred in the break room, so really, it was all Steve’s fault. He could live with that. As long as he knew that he wasn’t the reason why practically everyone on the entire freaking staff of Queen’s Medical knew about it. Anywhere he went in the hospital, nurses and doctors alike started a conversation with him about his relationship with Steve. Even the _patients_ had brought it up.

_‘So, how long have you two been dating?’_

_‘You’re so lucky to have Dr. McGarrett.’_

_‘I thought you guys had been married already. Whoops.’_

_‘Is he a good kisser?’_

_‘Aw, I thought I called dibs. He’s hot.’_

_‘Is he as good in bed as they say he is?’_

The last one made him shudder. He was bewildered by their questions and remarks. He and Steve weren’t married and they definitely weren’t dating. At first, he was confused by it. Where had all this come from? Then he remembered the incident from that morning and he knew. It was Kono. It had be her. She was the only one around to witness the conversation. That was how he found himself stomping towards the nurses’ station with a less than pleasant expression on his face. No one dared to stop him.

“Kono Kalakaua!”

“Crap. Oh, hey, Danny.”

“Don’t ‘hey, Danny’ me! You know what you did.”

“What did I do?” she asked innocently.

Danny scowled, “Don’t pull that with me. You told everyone about what happened this morning and now, they all think Steve and I are dating!”

“And you’re not?”

Danny sputtered, staring at the other nurse incredulously. She couldn’t have been serious.

“What? We are not, and I repeat _not_ , dating! Steve and I are just friends, okay? Acquaintances more like it. I would never let myself settle for that – that _Neanderthal_. The guy’s an animal!”

Kono sighed but Danny could see the amused twitch on her lips.

“Alright, brah, chill out. I’m sorry but there’s nothing we can do now. Even if we tell everyone that you guys aren’t actually dating each other, they might not believe you. I mean, you two argue like an old married couple.”

Danny opened his mouth to protest but quickly closed it back. He couldn’t argue with that. Actually, he could but he knew that Kono wouldn’t be listening to him anyway. He sighed, finally calming down but still feeling slightly frustrated. Damn, he hated this island.

“Alright, whatever. I’m going to lunch.”

“Ooh, where?”

“Andy’s.”

“I could go for a sandwich. I’ll be right there.”

Danny nodded and made his way out to the employee parking lot to wait for Kono. As he approached the silver Camaro – a gift from his parents for graduating nursing  school – he looked down and almost missed the person leaning on the hood.

“Going for lunch?”

The blond’s head snapped up and he bit back a groan he saw Steve.

“Steve, I don’t have time for this.”

“Just give me a minute.”

“I’ve given you too many minutes. Now, get off of my car, you Neanderthal.”

“Danny-”

“Up. Now.”

Steve sighed and stood up, watching as the nurse passed him to get to the driver’s side. He spoke up before Danny could unlock the door.

“Why don’t I join you?” he swallowed when Danny looked up at him, “For lunch, I mean.”

“I know what you meant, Steven and the answer is no. You cannot join me for lunch. I’m going with Kono.”

“How about tomorrow then?”

“No.”

“Dinner?”

“Absolutely not.”

“We could go for shaved ice.”

“I don’t Kamekona would appreciate the sight of me.”

“Surfing?”

“I don’t surf and I don’t like the beach.”

“Who doesn’t like the beach?”

“Me. Have a problem?”

Steve opened his mouth to answer when Kono suddenly appeared from behind him.

“Hey, Steve. What are you doing?” Her question sounded innocent enough but Danny could tell what she was thinking. He didn’t like the mischievous gleam in her eyes and he quickly tried to salvage the situation while he still could before she did something irrational.

“We should leave now so we can beat the lunch hour traffic.”

Kono shook her head but thankfully stepped towards the Camaro as she replied.

“Island time, brah,” she reminded him. Danny rolled his eyes and unlocked the car. He looked back at Steve who was frowning at him.

 He beamed, “Bye, Steven. Please kindly remove yourself from in front of my vehicle or else I will be sorely tempted to run you over.”

Steve, surprisingly, stepped out of the way without protest and Danny was able to climb into his car and drive away in peace.

“You wouldn’t have actually run him over, would you?” Kono asked once they were out of the parking lot.

Danny glanced at her, “Well, the hospital’s right there, isn’t it?”

“Point taken.”

+++++

Danny was getting tired of it now. He hadn’t seen Steve for the rest of the day and his peace had continued into the next morning. He now knew better than believe that Steve would leave him alone. This was proven true when the surgeon asked him out for the fifth time that week.

He had been in the pharmacy talking with Eric. His nephew was a good kid but his mom thought that he could use some straightening out so she sent him to Hawaii for Danny to help. He had gotten Eric a job in the hospital pharmacy and the kid seemed to be doing a good job so far.

“-and remember that your mom wants to talk to you. I’m not gonna ward her off forever.”

“Yeah, Uncle D.”

Danny shook his head and turned away from the counter. He knew things were getting worse when he wasn’t even surprised to see Steve standing a few feet away.

“Alright, what now?” he asked dryly.

“Okay, this has to be something you can do. There’s a skating rink off Ala Moana.”

Danny raised an eyebrow, “And what makes you think I’d want to go there?”

“You’re from Jersey. I’m sure they have skating rinks there and I remember you saying something about going ice skating with your family in the winter.”

“You…you actually remembered that?”

“Yeah.”

Danny blinked. It was only a minor detail which he had shared with his friends when Steve just so happened to be in close proximity but he had had no idea that the surgeon was even paying attention to the conversation. A warm feeling spread in his chest and he quickly dismissed it before he could get ahead of himself.

“That’s nice of you, really, but I don’t want to go skating,” he lied.

“Aw, come on, Uncle D. You love ice skating.”

Danny glared at Eric, who he had almost forgotten was there, his face settling into a scowl.

“You have work to do.”

Eric took the not so subtle hint and walked away. Danny shook his head and looked back at Steve.

“Sorry, not sorry, but no. I can’t go,” he muttered before trying to walk out of the pharmacy. Keyword being ‘tried’. Steve reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him from going any further.

“What do you mean you can’t go?” He didn’t sound angry, just offended.

“That’s exactly what I mean. I can’t go ice skating with you. What else is it supposed to mean?”

“Maybe you avoiding going out on a date with me,” Steve argued.

“I am not – look, can we just forget about it? Please? I have to go check the new saline bags.”

Steve let him go and Danny rolled his eyes as he finally left the pharmacy. Hopefully that would be last time the other man would ask him out.

+++++

Oh, how wrong he was. That hadn’t been the last time that Steve would ask him out on a date. It would, however, be the last time that he would decline the offer. It happened in the break room just like the first time. It was one of those rare occasions where most of them had a break in their schedule. On the couch, Danny was seated between Catherine and Kono. Lou and Meka took up the loveseat, just coming back from a call in downtown Honolulu. Chin sat in the armchair with Malia perched on one arm of the furniture piece.

“Hey, I just noticed,” Kono began, “Where’s Max?”

Lou snorted, “Probably down there talking with one of his friends.”

“I wouldn’t call a dead body his friend,” Catherine said to the paramedic. The doctor had just finished doing an MRI scan on a patient and she was glad to find her friends already in the break room.

“I don’t think he’d agree with you, Cath,” Chin stated.

Malia nodded, “He seems to enjoy it.”

“Well, he did say that he collects prehistoric fossils,” Meka noted, “So, I guess you can say his hobby involves dead bodies too.”

Danny raised an eyebrow at the paramedic, “So, you’re telling me that he spends all day with dead bodies and his hobby is dead bodies?”

“Well, he also makes pickles which is a great way to reuse specimen jars,” Kono countered. When everyone looked at her, she raised her hands, “Hey, he said it. Not me.”

They were about to change the topic when suddenly a tall figure in scrubs appeared before Danny. The blond frowned and opened his mouth to tell the surgeon to move when Steve did something unexpected. He got down on one knee right there in front of all their friends. Everyone immediately became quiet as they watched to see what he would do.

“Steve, what the hell are you doing?” Danny asked, getting nervous.

“Danny, I know this might be the last thing you’d want to see right now but just hear me out. I like you. A lot. You’re funny, smart and you’re not afraid to talk back to anyone. I’ve seen you with your patients and I know that you’ve got a kind heart in there, no matter how mean you can be. All I want is for you to give me a chance. So, please, Danny Williams, will you go out on a date with me?”

For the first time in his life, Danny was speechless. He couldn’t find the right words to say. The nurse spared a glance at his friends who were all staring at him expectantly. Just his luck to be stuck between Catherine and Kono, both of whom would be glad to kill him if he turned down the date. Catherine was an old friend of Steve’s from med school and Danny knew that she thought the two of them were cute together, just like everyone else in the hospital.

He looked back at Steve whose face was hopeful. He couldn’t just embarrass him in front of their friends. He’d just have to explain the situation to the other man in private.

“Alright, I’ll go with you.”

Applause and cheers sounded from his friends as Steve flashed him a relieved smile.

“You will?”

Danny couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face.

“Of course I will, you schmuck. I just said yes, didn’t I?”

Steve chuckled, “Yeah, you did. I’ll see you later, yeah?”

With that, the surgeon stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Danny to be bombarded by his friends. It wasn’t until lunch time that he got free from his schedule to escape to Steve’s office. The hospital was already buzzing with news of their little spectacle in the break room and the nurse had to wonder if any of these people had social lives.

“Come in,” came the response when he knocked on the door. He opened it and stepped inside. Steve sat behind his desk finishing up a report. The surgeon looked up and smiled when he saw Danny.

“Hey, Danny. What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about our, uh date.”

Steve leaned back in his chair, “What about it? Oh, I was wondering if you wanted to go to Antonio’s. I know it’s not fancy or anything but I thought you’d appreciate authentic Jersey pizza. After that, we can go to a museum or maybe ice skating if you’ve changed your mind.”

Danny bit his lip. He hated to admit it but that sounded like a pretty good date idea. It was obvious that Steve had thought long and hard about what to do and where to go. Even though his tone was quite the opposite, he was excited and Danny could tell. That just made the nurse feel a little guilty about turning him down.

“So, what do you think?”

“Uh, that sounds great.”

Steve smiled, “Good. What did you want to talk to me about?’

“Actually, it’s not important. I’ll just go now. I promised Catherine that I would go with her to some new restaurant in Waikiki.”

“I’m finished here. I’ll come too.”

“Fine but I’m not waiting on you so you have three minutes.”

“I can do it in two.”

Danny didn’t bother to reply as he left the office. He couldn’t believe he had just done that. He’d gone in there wanting to tell Steve that he’d have to cancel but came out after digging himself deeper into the situation. He sighed. Maybe a date with Steve wouldn’t be so bad after all.


End file.
